The Way I See The World In Colour & Repeat

the story behind the My london collection

When your first born arrives, traveling the world might be something you put on hold for a while, or perhaps not. For me it became an opportunity to re-discover London the city I have been happy to call home for more than a decade in the company of my young son. This meant using and discovering daytime London in ways that was totally new to me.

I started noticing the little things. I visited places I had never been and did not know excited. I found that being a new mum in London is great as long as you keep mobile and are willing to explore the endless possibilities the city has to offer. On these journeys I had time to reflect on my overall feelings towards my home city and the culture I live in and found that I am still very much in love with London after all these years. My grown up hart belongs to London. My childhood hart belongs to my parents hometown in Norway. I think this feeling is very common.

Over time I have come to noticed that no matter where I am in the world be it London, Northern Africa or Scandinavia or anywhere else, I am more or less always drawn to photographing the same things. These can be summarized as blocks of random colour that catches my eye, texture, lived in or worn surfaces and random derelict items. I am drawn to places or items with a past life and a story. Places and items that are sometimes a tad sad but beautiful, or sometimes just beautiful.

In other words you can say I am inspired by the everyday mundane, insignificant places I pass. I merge these everyday experiences with what I feel when visiting and exploring more significant places like cultural institutions or museums. You could say I mix high and low with random colour palettes that in one way or another speak to me the moment they are captured with my camera in my primary colour research, and in a city like London it is impossible to run out of inspiration.

All my experiences are coloured by the lens provided by who I am with at the time of discovery. If am with my son, his age and his interests will flavour my inspiration and experience of a place we visit and will forever change as he grows. If I am with a friend that perhaps takes me to a place in the city I have been many times before, their new found enthusiasm and sense of discovery and first time experience will also make me re-discover the place. If I am on my own, the feeling towards and memory of a place or experience will blend with all my pervious visits and collectively inform my creative output. This journey as a whole is the essence of the inspiration behind my London collection, and this is why ‘My London’ contains both chickens and the crown jewels.

To create my printed textiles I mix my illustrations with experiences and emotions that I shape into repeat patterns printed on premium silks and wool. All made with love in England. Textiles laced with personal reference that you do not need to be familiar with or interested in at all in order to enjoy, but essential for me in order to bring them to life. You can read the story behind each individual design here on my journal if you like.